Dovetail Jig Review and Question

I wish I had an answer to your question, Jeff. I have the 4212 that came with both. I’ve sat here looking at this post for a few days hoping that something would jump out at me while I cruise eBay and look at other tool sites, but I’ve got nothing for you. Sorry.

-- You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation. (Plato)

I have been tossing around the idea of making the template out of plastic. I’m not sure exactly how I would go about it though. I could either go to Lowe’s and trace it with pencil and paper, or see who has one in my local club. There’s not a whole lot to the templates. Looking at the template I have, I think it would be very easy to recreate it out of or hardwood. I think the best idea would be to borrow the template and use a flush trim bit to “copy” it. Maybe I’ll “buy” it at Lowe’s and then become disatisfied with it and return it. No, that’s not nice!

-- Jeff, South Carolina

I saw a post in another forum about making a template with phenolic. I’ll look for it. It was a way of give a “handcut” look with a shortcut. I’ll track it down for you. It might help with the process of creating your own.

-- You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation. (Plato)

I just called my Brother in Law to see if he had the template. He didn’t, he suggested taking the image of the template from the Porter Cable Web site and blowing it up to size on a copier.

Also, he said I could cut the tails using the vertical clamp. I could then use that cut to mark the mating piece. Position the newly marked piece in the jig to cut the unmarked waste.

Both methods, seems feasible.

-- Jeff, South Carolina

Here’s the forum link I was thinking about. Not sure if it will help or not, but I fail to see how you won’t enjoy reading it anyway…I remember is because of the phenolic template…

http://www.canadianwoodworking.com/forum/showthread.php?t=15173

-- You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation. (Plato)

I just received the 4212 from Coastal tool with both templates plus the miniature template for 182.50 shipped. Without the additional miniature template the 4212 alone was 129.00 plus shipping. Basically the same price as the 4210 locally. You might see if they have the template your looking for.

Dan

-- Dan in Central Oklahoma, Able to turn good wood into saw dust in the blink of an eye!

Thanks Dan, I paid just a little less than the $129 at Lowes a year ago for the 4210. Coastal Tools has some great sales from time to time so I’ll be looking there for sure. I got my Fein 14V drill there (retail $199.99) for $99.99 shipped during a Christmas promotion. I didn’t see the template online, but will call and see if they can get it.

-- Jeff, South Carolina